Batting

STANDISH, Maine -- The Bates College baseball team finished its season at 12-22 with a pair of non-conference losses on Sunday at St. Joseph's College of Maine. The host Monks (31-13) won Game 1 16-11 and took Game 2 10-5.

For St. Joe's, Kevin Chamberlain and Pat Moran collected the pitching decisions and improve to 3-1 and 8-1, respectively, on the season. Wade Oliver was 3-5 with two runs and five RBI in the opener, and Chris Campbell was 7-8 with five runs scored in the twin bill. For Bates, senior Dave Farrell (Chatham, Mass.) hit his first collegiate home run in his final day as a Bobcat, while fellow senior Tyler Maxwell (Coventry, Vt.) also hit his first homer this season and the second of his career. First-year Mike Ciummei (Acton, Mass.) hit his fourth homer of the season.

The Bobcats established several new program records in the doubleheader. Sophomore outfielder Chris Burke (Andover, Mass.) went 4-for-7 with three runs and three RBIs on the day. Burke, who was limited to only six at-bates as a rookie last year, finished the year batting .406 with 52 hits, breaking the Bates single-season record of 50 set a year ago by Brian Mahoney '08. Burke also set a new Bates single-season record for singles, with 41. Burke's 33 RBIs also supersede Mahoney's total of 30 last year, which had been the highest number by a Bobcat in over a decade.

Senior Chuck Murphy-Romboletti (Holyoke, Mass.) finished out his career with one final relief appearance, his 16th of the season, a new Bates record that breaks Rick LaFleur's former team record set in 1990. Murphy-Romboletti's 35 career relief appearances is a new club record, and his 42 pitching appearances is another club record, breaking the mark of 41 formerly held by Kevin Walsh '01.

Senior Ben Shwartz (Mattapoisett, Mass.) also got into the team record book. Shwartz made his 27th career start, tying Walsh and former teammate Griffin Finan '07 for the career record.

GAME ONE

The Bobcats struck first in both games and held a 1-0 lead after their turn in the first frame of the opener. With one out, sophomore Noah Burke (Appleton, Maine) sent a Kevin Chamberlain offering over the head of Steve Gorsun in center for a triple and scored when Chris Burke hit a sharp single to right.

Chris Campbell ignited the SJC offense with a single to lead off the bottom of the first and, after an Oliver base knock, scored to tie the game on a Ben Grant-Roy groundout to Bates third baseman Mike Ciummei (Acton, Mass.).

The Bobcats went on to secure a 2-1 edge in the third when junior Tom Beaton (West Newbury, Mass.), who led off the inning with a single to right, scored on a wild pitch. The lead was short-lived however, as the Monks plated eight runs on seven hits and two Bobcats miscues in the bottom of the frame to go up 9-2. Oliver provided much of the run support in the outburst, with his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to right, and a two-run double later in the inning. Mike Burdin plated a pair with a bases-loaded single and Todd Keneborus and Campbell both registered RBI singles to help the Monks take control of the game.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Moran lifted a long ball well over the left field wall for his 11th home run of the season, a solo blast. Travis Adams, who was awarded first base after getting plunked by a stray pitch, scored on a first and third double steal play and Gorsun sent Burdin scampering home with a single to give the hosts a 12-2 advantage.

The Bobcats charged back with nine runs in their final three trips to the plate. In the fifth, Chris Burke notched an RBI single and senior pinch hitter Dave Farrell belted a two-run homer, the first of his career, to make it a 12-5 game.

Grant-Roy got two of those runs back with a two-run blast over the left field fence in the bottom of the fifth, but the pesky Bobcats refused to go away and countered with a pair in the sixth with another long ball, a two-run shot, off the bat of Tyler Maxwell.

St. Joe’s led 16-7 after plating two more in the bottom of the sixth. Bates first-year reliever Will Furbush (South Portland, Maine) fanned Gorsun on a bender in the dirt, but the speedster reached on an errant throw by the Bobcats backstop Farrell and managed to steal both second and third base before scoring on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Oliver. Ian Lee pushed Oliver across the plate with a sac fly to left.

Chris Dion, though typically reliable, had a rough outing in relief of Mason Roberge, who worked the sixth frame. The southpaw was unable to finish what he started in the top of the seventh, allowing four runs on four hits and a walk before being lifted with two outs in favor of Chris Nanof, who forced Maxwell to ground out to Oliver at short to close out the game.

For the Bobcats, Ciummei was 3-3 with an RBI, Farrell went 2-2 with two runs and two batted in and Chris Burke had two hits in four trips to the plate with a run and two RBI. Maxwell chipped in with a pair of runs and RBI and sophomore Jake Simon (Waterford, Conn.) notched two RBIs in the losing effort. Starter Paul Chiampa ’11 (Bryantville, MA) fell to 2-6 on the year after allowing nine runs, six earned, on 10 hits with three punch outs in 2 2/3 innings. Relievers Karl Alexander ’12 (Cambridge, Mass.), senior Ben Thayer (Gorham, Maine) and Furbush combined to allow seven runs on six hits.

GAME TWO

Beaton opened the nightcap with a double to right-center and scored on a base hit from Chris Burke, who later scored on an SJC miscue to put the visitors up 2-0.

Zeroes were put up on the board in the following two half-innings, but the Monks knotted the game with a pair in the bottom of the second. Moran doubled and scored on a Burdin single and Keneborus, who reached with a base knock, scrambled home on a groundout to short off the bat of Gorsun in the frame.

The Bobcats held their largest advantage of the day, 5-2, after a three-run fourth. Chris Burke led off the inning with a double and later scored on an error and Ciummei belted a two-run homer off Pooler to lift Bates to a three-run lead.

After a scoreless turn, the Monks came out with four runs on five hits in the fifth to take a 6-5 edge. Campbell and Oliver started things off with singles before Moran smacked a triple, scoring both runners. Keneborus sent Moran home with a single up the middle and, after swiping second base, scored on a Craig Woodbrey triple to lift the Monks to a 6-5 lead.

St. Joe’s went on to add four runs in the sixth to go up 10-5 and cap the game scoring.

Chris Burke was the lone repeat hitter for Bates and went 2-3 with two runs scored and one batted in. His single in the first inning was his 51st hit of the season and broke the Bobcats’ single-season hit record. Starter Ben Shwartz allowed two earned runs on three hits in two innings and did not factor into the decision. Sophomore Ryan Heide (Medfield, Mass.) suffered the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits with two K’s in 2 2/3 innings.